chris: so is he telling -- the fbi director, chris wray, is his appointee. is he telling him to -- >> i think he has full confidence in him. chris: okay. that's just one breaking news story. there's also a story on today's front page of "the new york times" that reports in an oval office meeting last summer about immigrants flooding into the u.s., president trump said about people from haiti, quote: they all have aids, and immigrants

from nigeria would never, quote, gf back to their huts. what's your response to that and also to a federal judge in seattle this weekend partially lifting, again, the president's travel ban? >> a couple different issues there. i was not in that meeting, but the people in the meeting say those comments never happened, so i have no belief that actually transpired. but let's talk about the temporary protective status for a second, because it's an important case. the people here from haiti are here from an earthquake that happened roughly ten years ago under temporary protective status. we have tens of house of people in our country from honduras and nicaragua from a hurricane that happened in 1999, tens of thousands ofç people, under temporary protective status. the president has again and again made the case that on our immigration laws, congress needs to change these laws. people that are here from 10 and 20 years ago, chris. chris: all right. let's get to your day job. even though you had a big success this past week, there's

no rest for the weary. what's your legislative agenda for 2018, and what comes first? >> well, in 2017, chris, first, let's look at what the president accomplished. the first president to get a supreme court justice confirmed in the first 100 days, 12 circuit judges confirmed in his first year, the first to deliver on significant taxç reform sine 1986, the first one to roll back regulations with 15 times with the congressional review act. so it's been an exciting 2017. but we have a lot to do in 2018. i think you'll see the president roll out infrastructure plan in january, and the president has already invited leader mcconnell and speaker ryan to camp david the first weekend in january to make sure we're all on the same page for 2018. chris: let's talk about infrastructure, because he signed the tax bill friday. the president indicated he might begin with infrastructure. here he is. >> i really do believe we're going to have a lot of bipartisan workç done, and maye we start with infrastructure.

because i really believe infrastructure can be bipartisan. chris: but while both parties want a trillion dollar program over the next decade, there's a big difference. the white house talks about $200 billion in federal money with the rest coming from state and local governments and private investment. democrats want the whole $100 trillion in federal funds but say that you've already given that money away to corporations for your tax bill. so given those huge differences, where's the basis for compromise? >> there's no doubt, chris, there's a pathway forward on this. both democrats and republicans say our infrastructure's crumbling, and weç need to fix it. but the big question remains, will democrats actually work with us. they need to meet us halfway. so far when you talk about confirmations and our appointees to serve in the administration, in all -- since george h.w. bush there were 32 filibusters on nominees. we've had 64 in our first year. twice as many as 20 years combined. democrats have looked to obstruct this administration at

every chance they can get. the question is will they actually partner with us to try to do things for the american people. chris: all right. on infrastructure, day one, all federal money you want only $200 billion with the restç coming from state, local and private. they say the private would be a corporate giveaway, so where's the deal? >> i think i'm not going to get in front of the president, but i'm very confident. we've had conversations with democrats, i think there's a willingness on the policy to get there. the question remains will politics prevent it. chris: okay, let's talk about another area because i think it's fair to say there's a deal to be made on immigration. the democrats want the dreamers, the young people who came into this country as children as illegal immigrants, to the get some permanent legal status. in return, what are you asking for in terms of border enforcement,ç and does there he to be at least some funding for the president's border wall? >> chris, the president put forward to congress when he said that the deferred action for childhood arrivals was not

constitutional, he put forward the congress the principles he wanted which included border security, it included interior enforcement, and it included a couple of additions to ending chain migration. those were the things we asked for. we put that forward months ago. we're waiting for congress to provide a proposal and get it done. the president very much wants a deal here. he wants to solve this problem. chris: one of the things you did not mention was the border wall. >> well, i did. we very much consider aç physil barrier part of security. chris: is that nonnegotiable? >> it's something that the president has promised, and it's in our national security interests to secure our border. chris: okay. then -- you've got a lot of busy stuff in 2017. health care reform. here's what the president said about the repeal of the individual mandate that was part of the tax bill this week. >> obamacare has been repealed in this bill. we didn't want to bring it up. i told people specifically, be quiet with the fake news media because i don't want them

talking too much about it. chris: but, in fact, much of obamacare remains.ç subsidies to help buy coverage, medicaid expansion that gives coverage to more than 10 million americans, protection for pre-existing conditions. fact is, this week we learned almost 9 million people enrolled in the federal obamacare exchange, so isn't the president just flat wrong when he says that obamacare has been repealed? >> no. i think the president is right in saying that the heart of obamacare has been repealed, and that was the individual mandate. it's what most americans found most offensive, for the government to dictate to you to say we're going to require you to buy something whether you want it or not. there's a certain element of freedom that we still cherish iç this country, and that was at the root of obamacare. chris: but we're still going to have millions that are going to get their coverage through obamacare, through expanded medicaid, still going to get paid by the subsidies, still get the protections of pre-existing conditions. obamacare is still here, sir. >> obamacare continues to collapse. the estimates were there would

be 20 million more today than there are. and so, yes, 9 million have signed up, but with it's way short of the estimates. it continues to collapse. what the administration's looking to do is shore up the markets through administrative actions we can take such as you saw the president sign an executive order allowingç associated health plans that more people can pool their resources together to help lower premiums. we will continue to take administrative action on obamacare. chris: finally, i want to ask you about foreign affairs issues. president trump issued a threat to countries at the u.n. not to to oppose his decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. here he is. >> they take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars, and then they vote against us? well, we're watching those votes. let 'em vote against us. we'll save a lot. we don't care. chris: in the end, 128 countries ignored the president's threat and is votp" against his new policy. but the fact is that the only country besides israel that get

as much as a billion dollars in foreign aid that he's talking about perhaps doing away with are two allies, egypt and jordan. does he really mean what he says about cutting aid either to countries like egypt and jordan or to the u.n. itself? >> there are a couple of very important things that happened in the united nations this week, and you're covering one of them, and that is recognizing jerusalem as the capital of israel. keep in mind in 1995 congress voted overwhelmingly that's what the american position would be and votedç 90-0 with 10 abstentions last year. it is a policy that is represented by many americans, the president followed through on a campaign promise. also last week there was a vote 15-0 to help put additional sanctions on north korea. that is something that's been underreported. the president's leadership with ambassador with haley in bringing the united nations together in isolating north korea, that is far more important -- chris: but will the president go ahead and ask congress to cut funding either to countries that

voted against the new u.s. policy in jerusalem or to cut funding to the u.n. itself? >> i'm in the going to get ahead of the president, but iç think the countries that continue to thwart the will of us and refuse to partner with us, they should be cognizant of the president delivering on his promises he's made before. chris: finally, special counsel robert mueller is continuing his investigation into possible collusion with the russians and possible obstruction of justice. white house lawyers have been saying for weeks that they expect the special counsel to exonerate the president by early in 2018. did the white house lawyers meet as had been reported they were scheduled to with the special counsel's office this week, and on what basis do they believe that this investigation, at least as itç involves the president, is going to be wrapped up early next year? >> well, chris, thankfully, that is handled separately, and i'm not in the middle of those conversations. the reality is, as we've said before, the american taxpayer spent millions and millions of dollars on investigations that has proven no evidence

whatsoever of collusion with russia. weaver anxious to see this resolved and allow the country to move forward. chris: do you believe, as they say, that this investigation in terms of the special counsel exonerating the president is going to be cleared up in 2018? >> no way for me to know, chris. we continue to cooperate fully in everything they've asked for. we're anxious for it to beç recovered. chris: i've got to say, i had a lot of things to ask you, and we got them all in. thank you for coming in, merry christmas to you and your family. >> merry christmas, sir. chris: up next, what are the chances for bipartisan compromise in congress in the new year? democratic senator ben cardin weighs in on that and what grade he gives president's year one when "fox news sunday" comes right back.

♪ ♪ chris: for all the focus on domestic policy, president trump also had an am pushes foreign policy -- ambitious foreign policy agenda this year. joining me now, the top democrat on the foreign relations committee, ben cardin. happy holidays, and welcome back to "fox news sunday," senator. you just heard marc short, the white house director, do you see areas of compromise in the new congress, or is it going to be all politics all the time? >> i think we'll know very early. getting the budget done. we're already three months into this fiscal year, and we don't have a budget. the way the budget is handled, i think, will be an indicator of whether we can have bipartisan cooperation. it's not just the budget for the year, we have disaster relief for the people of texas and florida, california and puerto rico, we have the immigration issues that need to be dealt

with now, and i think the manner in which that is handled can set the stage for congress, democrats and republicans working together. or if they can't, if the president won't work with us on that, it's going to be a tough year. chris:d]11ñ let me ask you about a couple of specifics, a few specifics i just raised with marc short. there's infrastructure, there's immigration, there's welfare reform and in those specific areas do you see the outlines of a compromise with the president? >> there's been negotiations between democrats and republicans on immigration. we're hoping that we can get the dreamer bill done. we also have people, as pointed out, on temporary protective status. we have to deal with that issue. marc's right, we should pass legislation in these areas. the president's made it more difficult, but we need to get together, and we have democrats and republicans working together. on infrastructure, absolutely, webu(uz get an infrastructure bill done. it's more challenging because of the tax bill and the revenues that have been taken off the table. but we'll -- we could work together, get something done on that. chris: in terms of immigration,

as i was talking about, there is an obvious deal to be made there. on the one hand you, and some republicans, want to give protection to the dreamers. on the other hand, republicans and especially this president want tougher border enforcement including funding for the wall. would you be willing to compromise there? >> we need to get the dreamer issue done. it should not be connected to anything else. in regards to -- chris: well, wait a minute. senator, that'jç not -- i mean, that's not a compromise, because you have something you want on immigration, they have something they want. why not put them together? >> well, of course, the president put the deadline when he gave six months last year, earlier this year. so we have a deadline on the dreamers. we should do better border security. we're for border security. but let's make it sensible border security: let's deal with the technologies on the border, let's deal with the real problems there. the wall is not going to make us safer. chris: all right. let's turn to your particular area of expertise, which is foreign policy. you heard my discussion just now

with marc short about the trump administrat[on issuing a threat to the u.n. and to its member nations about not voting against his decision to move the u.s. embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem. here at the u.n. was our ambassador, nikki haley. >> no vote in the united nations will make any difference on that. but this vote will make a difference on how americans look at the u.n. and on how we look at countries who disrespect us in theup. and this vote -- in the u.n. and this vote will be remembered. chris: senator, what do you make of the president issuing that threat, and what happensç in congress if the president tries to make good on the threat to cut funding either to some of the countries that opposed us or to the u.n. itself? >> well, first, as has been pointed out, the united states recognizing jerusalem as the capital of israel, the congress did that in 1995. a country has a right to

determine its own capital. i don't think it was a controversial move. but the manner in which he handled it, without using diplomacy, without trying to advance the peace process, using this to put other issues on the table so we could get theç palestinians and israelis talking together, that, i think, was the mistake. so the reaction in the united nations, i think, was expected. i don't know whether it's useful to make threats. we do watch how the countries in the united nations vote on our resolutions. we always do that. but i think the manner in which the president handled this is not in our best national security interests. chris: let's turn to another subject. the u.s. pushed a resolution through the u.n. security council on friday imposing new sanctions against north korea i including sharp new limits on petroleum shipments to north korea. and the vote got theç support f both china and russia. it was 15-0 in the security council. doesn't that indicate that the trump administration diplomacy to try to build up international

sport against north korea is -- support against north korea is working? >> that was a good move. that was a major accomplishment. i give our team a lot of credit for getting that done. they're pretty strong additional sanction ises to be imposed against north korea because of their continued testing of ballistic missiles. so that is absolutely, it was a strong move forward, and it was great to see china and russia join us in that. it now needs to be followed upç with diplomacy where we get china and the united states working with the same strategy with north korea to find a way that we can ease the tension and get north korea to change directions. so it was a good first step. chris: another trouble spot, ukraine. the president has agreed to sell lethal weapons to ukraine including anti-tank missiles to fight the pro-russian separatist forces there. this was a move that president obama consistently, for years, refused to make. will you support that, or will you tryç to block the sale in

congress? >> i talked to secretary tillerson earlier this week. i support the administration's decision to provide these types of defensive weapons for the ukrainians. it's a clear message to russia that we will not allow them to continue to compromise the sovereignty of ukraine. russia will continue to push as far as they can. it was important for the united states to tell russia that we will support ukraine's ability to defend itself, so i support the decision. chris: overall, how do you think the administration has doneç ts first year in foreign policy, and are are you troubled that we have a secretary of state, rex tillerson, who almost everybody in washington thinks is going to be gone within a year? has he lost his credibility as he travels the world representing this country? >> in many respects our foreign policy is inconsistent. we'll have a policy coming out of state department or coming out from people that are

representing the white house and and then have the president come out with a tweet that totally undermines that. we saw that in northç korean wn secretary tillerson was pursuing diplomacy, and then the president undercut his ability with a tweet. so i think we've found from the president he doesn't always support his team and, therefore, we have an inconsistent message. we have distant america -- we say america first, it looks like america in isolation. and america's lost are its hardship in many key issues -- leadership in many key issues. it's certainly the truth on climate change. china came in and took a lot of the leadership that should have been with the united states. so we seeç the united states being excluded from a lot of the discussions globally, and that's not helpful to our national security. chris: senator, i want to put up some numbers for you that i think are fairly striking. we now have growth of 3%, up employment just over 4%, the dow jones average is up almost 25%

since the trump inauguration, isis has lost 97% of the land it once controlled in iraq and syria. for all the controversies, for all the questions about this administration, when you look back onç all of that, hasn't president trump had a pretty good year? >> i think it reflects the fact that america is the strongest nation in the world, that what we can do, this country really is indispensable to the global community. and that there were seeds planted by both democratic and republican administrations that have caused us to continue to grow. but as we do that, there's a lot of americans who have been left behind. and i think that's the key challenge. we have a shrinking middle class. we've got to focus on a growing middle class, and i think there was a missed opportunity on this taxç bill where it helped, basically, large corporations and high income people. the if we could have focused on middle income, we could have, i

think, grown -- helped grow the middle class which would have been good for our future. things are good, they could be better, and let's concentrate on middle income families. chris: okay, i've got less than a minute left. congress has been investigating the whole russia issue for about a year, the justice department has been investigating possible ties between the trump campaign and russia for a year and a half. really two questions. first of all, do you feel any remove the cloud over our president if it can be removed and, secondly, what do you think of the tweets and it's continued this week on the attacks against the fbi? >> i think it's critically important that we respect the independence of the department of justice and the fbi. no one's above the law. let mr. mueller do his investigation without interference from the president. in regards to this investigation, i hope it is completed early. e think the american people -- i think the american people need to understand exactly what russia was doing here in the united states and the (

campaign. it would be helpful for this country to have as much of that information made available as quickly as possible. chris: senator cardin, thank you, thanks for your time, and happy hold holidays to you and your family. >> thanks, chris, same to you. chris: up next, we'll bring in our sunday group to look back at 2017. plus, what would you like to ask the panel about the president's first year in office? just go to facebook or twitter @fox news sunday, and we may use your question on the air. ♪ ♪ quit smoking. but when we brought our daughter home, that was it. now i have nicoderm cq. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. every great why needs a great how.

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with two different takes on congress passing the republican taxç bill. it's time now for our sunday group. former national security council staffer and now a fox news correspondent gillian turner, columnist for the hill, juan williams. bob woodward from "the washington post," and fox news politics editor chris stirewalt. merry christmas eve to all of you, and thank you for coming in. >> merry christmas. wrist chris gillian, there were certainly times this year when it appeared the trump presidency was headed off the tracks. but when you look back at the economic numbers i just showed senator cardin, the success with isis, now the passage of this signatureç tax cut bill, has 27 turned out to be a pretty good year for president trump? >> it's definitely ending on a high note, is the way that i would describe it. specifically with the stock market booming, on the foreign policy side of things, isis has been really the sweet spot for the administration this year. they've -- the united states military has decimated their strongholds in iraq and syria,

essentially denying them any claims to legitimate caliphate. the challenge on this and many other issues is that the world -- at the risk of sounding trite -- the world isç a complx place today, and the nature of all the threats we face as a nation are changing. they're evolving very quickly. if we take isis as an example, we have had great success militarily. the new front in the war on terror next year and beyond is really going to be in cyberspace. so the question is how quickly can the administration adapt. how can they take these policy successes and translate them in the future. chris: we asked you for questions for the panel, and we got this on facebook from christopher who writes: is trump going to be another reagan? thought to be a lightweight but gets conservative agenda put inñ juan? how do you answer christopher? >> well, i think if you look at the past year, picking up on what gillian was saying, you'd have to say that in terms of putting conservative judges on the courts, in terms of things

like the dismantling of regulations and regulatory state, trump has had some success. or i would say, actually, paul ryan and mitch mcconnell have had success while using trump almost as a distraction. to me, when you think about ronald reagan, it was the ability to negotiate at times across the aisle. i'm not sure i can point to one republican who would say he voted for the tax deal because of trump. i think the deals with struck in the senate, anwr drilling for lisa murkowski, a promise on health care going to susan kohl hintz of maine, something promised about immigration reform to jeff flake. that's the so-called swamp that trump once promised to drain. actually mcconnell, i think, has poured some water and muck into that swamp. [laughter] chris: one of the president's complaints is that he doesn't get a fair shake from the;hspr' stream media. mr. williams -- [laughter] a perfect example of that.

[laughter] here was the president on friday as he signed the tax bill. >> legislative approvals, for which i'm given no credit in the mainstream media, we have i believe it's 88 which is number one in the history of our country. chris: chris, is this presidency the hot mess it's often portrayed as being, or does president trump have a point? >> well, i think he very much has a point. i think he has a point that much of the coverage aboutç him has been withering and unfairly so. but then again, much of the coverage has also been fairly harsh because, as we've already alluded to, the opening stanzas of this presidency, the first eight months, ten months were very, very off kilter. and he had a hard run getting started. so much of the coverage that was harsh was unfair. and he also benefits, by the way, from a lot of very favorable coverage and talking points from his boosters, so i don't think we can just say he

is a victim. chris: bob, you're -- i want to continue on this theme. you're writing a book about donald trump that's gmi come out next year. >> at an undetermined date. [laughter] chris: you're having problems making the deadline with your editor? >> no, no. there's so much, and getting your arms around it is difficult, it's hard. >> trying to rush the process. [laughter] chris: what are you finding, is part of the story how much he has changed as president or how little he's changed? >> well, i can't really answer that. what's interesting, there's a discussion going on about when there is within the trump presidency a crisis of legitimacy. and i think as you look back onç it, there is not, actually. he was elected. ben cardin, democrat, was saying, gee, i agree with this, i agree with that. much disagreement on the tax cut that we're going to see as we know in tax cuts it depends on

outcomes, the condition of the economy is good now supposedly. we will see. so that can't be measured. so at the same time, there's been a lot of turmoil in the trump presidency. one of people i talked to called it a chaos furnace.ç and there's a lot of truth in that. and that's trump's style. and a lot of that is done intentionally with his tweets in the morning. you talk to anyone on the staff, and there is no clearinghouse for his tweets. he's going to do it all on his own. and that's defined a lot. chris: and do you agree with -- i'm surprised there's a consensus, it seems to be, on this panel that the president has ended the year much stronger than he started. >> well, the tax cut's important, and look at foreign affairs. there's been lotsç of anxiety,

rightfully so, that maybe there's going to be a war with north korea. i think that's been turned down. isis is a plus maybe, but, you know, we'll have to see. i mean, you're exactly right, it is a dangerous world. but the fuse of instability is lit in so many cups, and -- in so many countries, and the crisis can come from a place we least expect it. i'm looking at this, and there are dozens of places that can go off and wind up defining theç presidency. and so, you know, that's why i'm waiting to finish the book. [laughter] chris: gillian, how does this president compare both in substance and style points to the two presidents that you worked for on the national security council, bush 43 and obama? >> i think it's fair to say that president trump is different in every way imaginable, both -- and they were very different

from one another. president obama and president bush. president trump is temperamentally different, i think his world view is different from any president we've potentially seen before.ç and i think what he is, you know, the end of the year always offers this opportunity to sort of talk about restsons learned -- lessons learned, and i think one of the the things the administration has done well is that they've learned to adapt some fairly outlandish policy ideas to suit swamp and to suit the congress, and they've become -- like there's no better example than the travel ban. the president's beloved travel ban. if you look at the first version, it was fairly outrageous. everything from what it said on paper the how it wasç rolled o. we go from this to the second, and then the third version has sort of passed without much, much controversy. and what they're doing there is

trying to, i think, you know, they're coming to terms with the fact that the president doesn't have all the prerogative in the world, and if he wants to get these fairly controversial things through, he's going to have to learn to adapt. >> i just -- >> he's adapting to the swamp. >> when you were saying there's a consensus on the panel, i think my part to contribute, contribution to this consensus would be that the right-wing agenda in america has been advanced by aç republican congress, mcconnell and ryan . you look at the tax bill, remember, trump promised to cut tax -- increase taxes on the rich, get rid of carried for interest for the hedge fund people. the exact opposite has come through because of the agenda. mcconnell, ryan in terms of cutting taxes on the upper income and in terms of beginning attacks on the social safety net that i anticipate to come on medicare, social security and the like because they'll say the revenue is not there. >> i think you can rest easy, mr. williams.

i do not think that is in the offing anytime soon. >> you don't think paulç ryan - chris: e folks, you have another panel, and i don't want you to steal time from yourselves on the other side of the break. [laughter] when we come back, we'll look ahead to president trump's prospects for year two, his policy agenda, the political challenges and, yes, the continuing russia investigation. ♪ ♪ before i had the shooting, burning, pins-and-needles of diabetic nerve pain, these feet... grew into a free-wheeling kid... loved every step of fatherhood... and made old cars good as new. but i couldn't bear my diabetic nerve pain any longer. so i talked to my doctor and he prescribed lyrica. nerve damage from diabetes causes diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is fda approved to treat this pain, from moderate to even severe diabetic nerve pain. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions, suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worse depression, unusual changes in mood or behavior, swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever,

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>>ç it's always a hot of fun when yu win. chris: president trump celebrating with congressional republicans the passage of his first major legislative win, that big tax cut, and promising more victories in 2018. and we're back now with the panel. chris, you heard the president's legislative director, marc short, laying out a pretty ambitious agenda for 2018. how much of that will actually

get done given the fact that they don't have reconciliation, they've got to pass it with nine democratic votes in the senate, and you've got the midterms coming up in november? >> but even before they begin negotiating with democrats -- and it is, of course, the kindç of pivot that we had anticipated from the president really from the beginning, reach out to democrats, infrastructure, find ways to build this new populist, almost centrist in some way domestic policy agenda. but they have a big rhubarb to settle among republicans before they figure out what they're going to do there, because they made a lot of promises to idealogically disparate republicans in order to get the tax bill passed. that bill is coming due really in january through march as they have to deal with daca, illegal immigrants brought to the united states as minors, they have to deal with questions ofvsx fixing obamacare or patching obamacare for the year, different promises to differentç people. and then on top of that you want to talk about changing entitlement reform, rand paul closes the year in the senate

saying we're coming back, we're cutting spending, we're coming back, we're cutting welfare, and tell me how you make that all fit. chris: juan, one thing that struck me about the president's event on the south lawn this week after he had signed the tax cut bill was how much -- and this picks up on what gillian said -- he's adapted to washington. he was calling out not just the leaders, because it seemed when he came, he knew about four leaders in congress. he was calling out committee chairman, subcommittee chairmen. has he gotten better, in fact, has he begun to master or theç art of the legislative deal? >> well, i think what you said is true. and by the way, what a show of psychofancy. it's unbelievable that exhibit at white house. i couldn't believe it. i thought it was some authoritarian leader from some other country in front of his, you know, self-selected leader, oh, dear leader, we love you, mr. trump. good god. anyway, i think that what you have seen is that he has more

familiarity with congress and understands that he has to make deals through congress. chris: well, of course he's got to make deals through congress. i mean, ronald reagan had to, bill clinton did. >> yes. chris: my point is -- >> i'm not sure he recognized that when he started. chris: iç understand. but would you agree he now does understand -- >> no. even in the tax bill. it's not that he put forward with marc short's help some legislative agenda or structure that allowed them to act. it was that they came up with their own prescriptions to their conservative -- chris: you're not going to give him any credit. >> no, no. i think he knows now some members of congress and understands he's got to work with congress. but look, for example, marc short said to you we want to do something on infrastructure. and what you hear from the democrats in the senate, as we heard this morning, yeah, we want to do something on infrastructure, but where's the revenue? you just passed a tax bill that took away the money. chris: no, that's true. that was a trillion dollars they wanted to get that they were going to put into -- you've gotç

another trillion dollars. [laughter] over the ten years. anyway, casting a shadow over everything is the continuing investigation of russia. senate democratic leader chuck schumer put the president on notice this week. >> if the president were to fire special counsel mueller, our country would face a constitutional crisis. chris: bob, as a veteran of covering watergate, of covering iran contra, of covering the monica lewinsky, where are we headed in 2018? you hear white house lawyers saying that this is going to be wrapped up quickly, that the president -- at least as far as the president's concerned, maybe not paul manafort -- that he's going to be exonerated early in 2018, and you hearç some democrats say they're just getting started. >> my analysis and information is that we reporters and the public only know a sliver of what's going on in that investigation, and we also only know a sliver of what really happened. mueller is the special counsel

here, has extraordinary power in law. supreme court decision in the nixon case saying you as the investigator have the power to get the evidence, in the case of nixon it was the tape. so mueller presumably can get all evidence and testimony onç this. so we don't know where it's going to go. i i think one of the big problems here is our business, the media. you see the declarations about, oh, we know this is going to lead to impeachment or the declarations that it's going to be over, it's going to go away. i suspect if we had mueller here on sodium pent thol -- [laughter] chris: i would love that, let me tell you. >> well, try. [laughter] chris: i think i'm going to come at him with a hypodermic, it's going to be a problem. >> sometimes you have to roll the dice. [laughter] donald trump knows that. p and i thinkç he likely would

say, i don't know. this is a process, he's very exhaustive. and that's exactly the way it should be. chris: but let me ask you because congress has been investigating this question for a year. the justice department has been investigating this question of possible collusion for a year and a half since the summer of 2016. wouldn't -- why don't we have any sense at all, if there is any, of any collusion between the russians and the trump campaign? >> fair question. and, you know, maybe we won't. maybe the trail will becomeç cold. we don't know. but these things take time. mueller started in may. that's the really serious investigation. but i think in the discussion about it and what, as somebody who's done this for, god, 47 years, there is in the media this polarization and people

attacking trump and the kind of self-satisfaction and smugness and ridicule which i think does not work at all. and on the other side, oh, trump is totally right, thisç is innocent, this is some sort of jihad against him. and i think we need to turn that down and listen to facts. there are facts out there and be a little -- chris: i couldn't agree more, but good luck to you in trying to get that done. [laughter] gillian, i want to get you into this. on the foreign policy front, north korea, russia, china, middle east, what are you looking for in 2018? >> i think just quickly on north korea the big variable is whether or not we end up at war with the north korean regime p i'm not refuting bob, i wouldn't dare do that, but i don't thinkç the question of whether or not we're going to war with the north is at all settled at this time. i hope you're right and i'm

wrong. on russia, the investigation aside i think the u.s./russia bilateral relationship has taken a nose dive. that is eded by the fact that -- evidenced by the fact, the announcement this week we're now providing them with this major defensive capability in the form of lethal weapons. chris: ukraine. >> excuse me, to ukraine. chris: right. >> president trump is learning what all his predecessors have learned which is that vladimir putin cannot be trusted and cannot be worked with even on the issues where weç share comn national security interests. and i think that has been a particularly difficult lesson for him, because he started with high hopes of turning, turning the tide in favor of working with putin. so i think that's going to be -- that's going to die a very quick death. chris: and in about 40 seconds, the middle east. >> and the middle east at large? i think some major humanitarian concerns for the administration in 2018. we've got yemen on brink of one of the worst famines the world has ever seen potentially.

thanks to the saudi blockade. the trump administration is trying to really exert the special relationship to try to get them to back down. region generally, i think. chris: and isis? >> and isis' online caliphate is flourishing. so the big test for the trump administration is can we fight them online as well as we have fought them on the battlefield. chris: well, it's going to be a fascinating year, and we'll all be here to cover it fairly and in a smug-free zone. [laughter] >> here here. >> well said. chris: see you next sunday. have a merry christmas. up next, our power player of the week. honoring america's veterans this holiday season. plus, another visit from the wallace grandkids. ♪ ♪ç

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chris: it's a christmas tradition here to share the story of how one family found a way to express the meaning of the holiday season. it's a moving example of love for our country and personal generosity. once again here is our power player of the week. >> he would have the opportunities wasn't the people that work for us. he gave their lives for us. chris: is that plainspoken wisdom that has driven him for years on a mission that has touched america's heart. each december he places wreaths at arlington national cemetery and thousands of volunteers are there to help him. >> i think a lot of people think like i do and they just want to, you know, they appreciate the veterans and they want to show

it. chris: the story begins back in 1962 when he was a 12 -year-old paperboy from maine won a trip to washington. what impressed him most was arlington, it's beauty and dignity in those rows and rows of grades. >> everyone represents a life in a family and a story. they are not just tombstones. those are all people. chris: 30 years later in 1992 he was running his own wreath company in harrington, maine but his christmas approached he had a bunch left over. >> these weeds were fresh and just made and i just didn't want to throw them away. chris: he thought of arlington and all those great. when the cemetery approved he and a dozen volunteers drove the wreaths down and laid them on the headstones. and so it continued for years until a few christmases back when an air force sergeant took

this picture which ended up on the internet. >> it struck a nerve and people e-mailed it to each other and it really went around the world. chris: we were there the next year as he and his workers loaded up 5265 weeks. then they embarked on what he called the world's longest veterans parade. a 750-mile journey that at some point attracted more than 100 vehicles and when they got to arlington so many people wanted to participate. >> the ceremony you're about to witness is an army ceremony. to be conducted for the priest company. chris: for years he pay for all of this out of his own pocket and he started wreaths across america, something hundreds to war memorials around the country but he will need help to reach his new goal. >> i think at around 2.7 million grace and that's a tall order to

decorate 2.7 million grace. chris: but you would like to do it, wouldn't you? >> yes i would. i don't know how but i would. chris: how long will you keep doing this? as long as i work and i know my family will continue it. it will be here for a long time. chris: this is the 26th year he has taken on his christmas project. this month volunteers place more than one and a half million wreaths on veterans grace at over 1400 locations in all 50 states. and now another christmas tradition. here's a look from the last three years at all five of the wallace grandkids and now here they are again and they keep growing. caroline, libby, sabine, james and william. from our family to yours have a very merry christmas and we will

see you. >> next "fox news sunday". chris: you're getting quite professional at that. alright guys, three, two, one. >> merry christmas. i'll see yot on "fox report" at seven. >> hasn't been done in 34 years but, actually, really hasn't been done, because we broke every record. it's the largest -- i always say the most massive -- but it's the largest tax cut in the history of our country. [laughter] and reform, but tax cut. [applause] paul: welcome to "the journal editorial report," i'm paul gigot. that was president trump following the passage of his first major piece of legislation that will deliver the most sweeping reform to the tax code in three decades. but while republicans were taking their victory lap, not everyone on can top hill was celebrating -- capitol hill was celebrating. >> now, we know they're